Iuliia Kotsiuba

My name is Iuliia Kotsiuba, and I was born on July 20, 1981, in Dnipro, Ukraine. Initially, I studied architecture at the Dnipropetrovsk State Academy of Architecture and Building, and later graduated from the Institute of Advertising in Kyiv, specializing in environmental design. I started drawing when I was a child. At the age of 10, I enrolled in an art school on one's own, where my love for art start. Over time, this passion evolved into a professional career and became the foundation of my work. However, I discovered the world of animation in 2021, when I completed courses of animation, storyboarding, and directing at “Projector School” under the guidance of Oleg Malomuzh. My final project at this course was my debut short film “My closet”, which I worked on for 9 months. This film marked an important milestone in my professional development and reflects my personal life experience. Before that, I spent over 16 years working in graphic design and concept art for various agencies and television. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, I decided to fulfill my long-standing dream and immerse myself in the world of animation. Currently, I work at the animation studio "Karandash," where I create storyboards for TV series and commercial projects and take part in projects as an art director and director. One of my first major projects was “Woof and Joy”, an educational and entertainment platform where I worked as a storyboard artist. My role involved working on several episodes of the project, which ultimately created a total of 48 episodes. I also participated in creating the animated part of the documentary film Chernobyl and worked as a director and art director on a music video for the singer Anael. As a director and art director, I worked on the short film “Sonеchko” (Sunshine), which tells the story of children evacuated from Ukraine during the war. Additionally, I contributed to the animated part of the documentary film “Children of Fire” by director Evgen Anifievsky, which portrays the fate of Ukrainian children during the war. At present, I am working as a storyboard artist on a feature-length animated project for children, “Fairywood”, collaborating with director Viktor Andriyenko. My closet is my debut short film, which I created as a director, screenwriter, art director, and animator, and I will present it in early 2025. The film was almost entirely created by me, except for the compositing and music design. It is the result of my work in the directing course at Projector School, and I am very proud that this project became my graduation film. I am constantly improve and develop myself as a creative individual, creating emotionally rich and detailed works in the world of animation and film.